A wiggle dress dream ~ Talking about foundations ~ the Rago #6207 Panty Girdle

So foundation garmets are something I wear a lot of and therefore something I get asked a lot about. 2015 seemed to be the year I embraced more traditional foundation garments. As my weight jumped due to my struggle with my anxiety, foundations became my amour, my savour and the only thing really keeping me in half my clothes. While it started as a way to fit into my clothes, I began to actually really fall in love with foundations and began branching into pieces that were completely alien to me. 

The whole point of foundations is to smooth the body and help you achieve certain shapes. I was finding that I wasn't loving my body in wiggle styles and that suspenders weren't really giving me the desired look under tight dresses. Plus, being a girl with thicker thighs, I found just wearing suspenders was leading to some hell bad thigh chaffing, which at times made walking near impossible! Hard to feel confident when you feel like Satan is rubbing your inner thighs! So, after looking around and possibly stalking the Nylon Swish's blog I decided to do something that felt very scary and order myself the 6207 Panty Girdle, to try and aviate my foundation woes. 

So sizing? Knowing I am quite bigger in the booty with a 44 inch hip and as low as a 30 inch waist, depending on the day, I sized up to a XL in this piece, because honestly I'd rather it be a little bigger than feel I was getting cut in half. I find the XL to be comfortable and the right level of shaping for me. Because I am quite short in the torso, I find I need to wear a longline bra (also Rago No #2202) with this panty girdle to help smooth above it, as it finished for me not far below my rib line, which can cause a noticable bump which really isn't flattering. 

Not wanting to wait for international shipping, I purchased mine from MisKonduct in Newcastle and with express shipping I had it the same day. Now the first thing you will think, when you unwrap your new panty girdle in excitement, is OMG this thing is TOO small!! I personally had a mild freak out thinking there was NO way I was ever going to get my ass into it. But chill. Relax. Its actually really deceptive. I got home that night, feeling very apprehensive but I locked myself in my room and battled the elements (not really but it felt like it!) to wiggle this sucker up! The first time is honestly always the hardest because it hasn't been stretched out before. 

Once I was in it though, I was pleasantly surprised with the results. It didn't hide my natural curves, just smooth them out and bring them in a little. The difference was quite noticable in reducing the appearance of bumps and cellulite through clothes as well as nipping me in at the tummy and waist. Its also long enough in the legs to stop thigh chaffing!!! So its perfect for days you want to wear a wiggle dress without feeling like your thighs are on fire. It also has detachable suspender hooks inside the bottom of the legs (see above left picture) which means you can still wear stockings with tighter styles without the bumps being hugely noticeable. 

Now this girdle does come with a slight flip in the leg and crotch for using the bathroom. I wouldn't recommend using it. I speak from experience! Simply pull this down like underwear and wiggle yourself back in when you're done. Over time it will get easier to shimmy it up and down but you'll still have awesome results with your shaping. Also I've never had an instance of thigh chaffing while wearing this bad boy! It truly is amazing in that regard!

So how, you may ask, does this translate to changing how you look in clothes? Well, I'll show you. I chose this dress from Starlet Fever (read my review of this dress here) as the lighter colour and silk fabric shows shaping the best. Left is with a normal bra and undies. Right is with the longline bra and panty girdle. 

 

As you can see, the panty girdle ultimately smooths lines, nips the waist in and really helps define your curves.

This girdle is on the firmer side and I'd honestly recommend stepping upto something like this after starting with a firmer style suspender belt and a longline bra first. If you aren't used to wearing foundations this piece could be very daunting to wear!

I hope you've enjoyed this review! Please feel free to ask me questions if you have any!

Til next time darlings!

Put some Spring in your summer ~ The Belinda Skirt and Melissa top from Hell Bunny

Hello darlings!

Its summer right now here in Aussieland and its honestly been a scorcher this year. Not only has it been hot but the humidity has been an absolute KILLER! I'm talking sweaty before you even put clothes on after you hopped out of the shower kind of humid. In short, as a pinup, its sucked and I've really been trying to find clothes that are lighter in make to help my skin breath. I was so incredibly excited when Gwynnies got some of the newest Hell Bunny releases in stock, I knew I had to have them in my life!

As I've said before, I'm a sucker for floral prints. I'm also a sucker for pastels. More and more I'm adding pastels to my wardrobe, especially since going blonde because there's just something about being blonde and wearing pastels that I love. I was super excited when my parcel arrived the next day and I was excited to see how pretty this skirt looked in person.

Flowers ~ Pink Rose Double from Daisy Jean Floral Designs
Necklace ~ Blue Beads from Debstar Designs
Brooch ~ Blue Wren Brooch from Erstwilder (discontinued)
Top belt & skirt ~ Melissa top in white, lilac retro belt and Belinda skirt from Hell Bunny bought from Gwynnies
Shoes ~ Halina shoes from Royal Vintage Shoes

So lets start with sizing! I bought the medium skirt which is my regular size in all hell bunny swing skirts. I've never had one that wasn't true to size. The top I bought a medium, worried about the fit but found that it actually had a fair bit of stretch and easily could have sized down. The top actually completely opens, like a jacket zipper at the back which means no smudging make up on it when you try and get it on. 

Something to note about the skirt, as a lighter coloured skirt, the creases in this skirt do show up. Not as obviously as a plain coloured skirt but still a fair bit, especially if you sit a lot. I find the patterned fabric does make it not as obvious.

I was so excited when I saw the Melissa top! As a former redhead, I don't have a whole lot of white tops. My hair used to transfer onto my tops and turn them pink, so I'm only now starting to buy more white tops now that I don't have to worry about this transfer happening. I love the versatility of this top, it will be great for wearing with my other pastel skirts. The only downside to this top is that it is quite thin and if you aren't wearing beige undergarments, they will show through the white.

The price of both of these items is very reasonable. $49.95AUD from gwynnies snaps you up this truly gorgeous skirt and the top is all yours for $35.00AUD. For such fun, versatile pieces that BREATH in this warm weather they are definitely worth the investment!

Thank you so much for reading this review! Sorry for not as many photos as usual, it was incredibly warm on my shoot afternoon and I've not been feeling 100%. Happy to answer any questions you may have on these gorgeous pieces!

Til next time darlings!

See through curves and body confidence ~ My review of the CS-201 Mesh Corset from Orchard Corset

Hello darlings!

Welcome to my first real review of a foundation garment! I'm a bit nervous if I'm going to be 100% honest. As I said in my sneak peak last Friday, I've been a bit down on my body since mid 2015. I went through a period of high anxiety and stress. As a result I gained 15kg or 33lbs and it sadly really affected my self confidence. As I tried to get a grip on the situation I found myself in I lost my confidence behind the camera and stopped modelling, my clothes weren't fitting as well and I was generally feeling pretty blue. One of the things that has gotten me through the past 12 months and really helped me keep some of my self confidence is a reignited love of foundation wear, especially corsets.

I've loved corsets for as long as I can remember. When I was in year 6 (so I would have been around 12), I lived in a small town called Robertson, in the southern highlands. In this little town, Sydney Corset and steam punk store Gallery Serpentine had a store. I used to get sent to ride to the local store for bread and milk by my parents and this store was across the road from the general store. I remember standing at the window, nose pressed against the glass, looking at the beautiful displays. I was mersmised by these corsets and the shapes they created. I even got up the courage to go in and buy my senior formal outfit from there, knowing full well I'd be the odd one out but not caring because with the corset on I felt like I could take on the world! My Edwardian overbust was my first but it certainly wasn't my last!

18 year old me at my high school graduation! So different!

Now before I start this review, I want to state that I have been incredibly spoilt with corset quality. I was fortunate enough to get my What Katie Did Morticia Corset in a bulk buy off a stylist along with a lot of other What Katie Did goodies and my morticia corset is honestly out of this world. She's near death now but I'm hoping to replace her with another morticia mid year so will review her then. This meant that I did pick up on some things with the Orchard Corset that I otherwise wouldn't have thought that much on. Without further ah-do, lets start!

Now the Orchard Corset CS-201 mesh corset appealed to me because well simply, its mesh and Australia gets bloody hot! Especially in summer! More than once I was caught out not being able to wear my morticia (which is satin) purely because I was a bit worried I would self combust! It was SO humid! So I figured the CS-201 was a better option for those kinds of sticky humid days. I thought I'd give the smaller length corset a go, as I wanted one with more mobility for work. As per corsets I sized down 4 inches below my natural waist and got the 26 inch size and that feels to have been the right choice. I do naturally have quite a large hip to waist difference so it highlights my naturally smaller waist nicely. I've been wearing this corset with varying things over the past 2 weeks to be able to give it the best review I can.

The first thing I noticed was that despite being mesh, it still gave me a pleasant amount of reduction. For the hotter days, the mesh has definitely helped me stay cool, though I've still found I can get quite warm in it if its super humid, so its not a complete fail safe as some days are just too humid but it definitely helps! This corset in my opinion is best worn under swing styles, as I find without a girdle over the top, it does give me a funny bulge at my hips and tummy, which is very noticable under wiggle styles. If you do have a bit more to love in the tummy and hips, this is something to keep in mind with this style. Another thing to keep in mine is that this style does have a low back, so if you carry weight on your upper back you will get a bulge around where your bra fastens. This corset being shorter there isn't any reason it should get in the way of things like bathroom usage.

Best styles to wear this corset under:

- Swing styles! 

- If you are going to wear it with a wiggle style, I'd recommend wearing a girdle over it to reduce lines!

The other thing I noted with this corset is that the front is incredibly straight up and down. This is different to what I experience with my What Katie Did corsets which move with my bodies natural curve. As I have a bit of prodominent ribcage just below my bust, I found that wearing this corset for more than 7 hours or two days in a row, even with it only lightly laced, this part of my ribs was a bit achy due to how it sits at the front, which has really limited how often I can wear this corset. As someone who used to wear my morticia for 8+ hours a day and have only once had to take it off before I got home in 18 months of owning it, I was pretty bummed that on two occasions I've had to take this corset off as it became too uncomfortable to keep wearing. The busking at the base has also unstiched and the busk is now visible, so thats something I'm going to have to repair.

Now while my experience with this corset hasn't been 100% (as I said earlier, I've been spoilt!) I don't regret having it. Its a great option on hotter days or for when I just want a cinched waist. Its just sadly no where near as comfortable as my previous corsets have been for long periods of wear. I'd recommend this shape for someone with a slightly smaller waist to hip difference, purely to reduce the dig in.

That being said, Orchard corset are a good brand for those new to corset wearing and aren't sure if its for them yet or for someone looking for an entry level priced corset. When it comes to corsets you definitely get what you pay for. This corset retails atm for $65USD + postage. I've recently noticed they've changed their postage structure to offer better postage options which is good.

This corset comes in black and beige, for those who want something not as noticable under their clothes and is available from the Orchard Corset store by clicking here.

Happy to answer any questions you may have! Just leave them in the comments section!

I hope you've enjoyed this first review of one of my foundation garments!

More to come!

Til next time darlings